


Let’s try this again

by R_4_L



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Fourth Shinobi War, Fuinjutsu, Jinchuricki, Minor Original Character(s), Sasuke learns to open up, Slow Build, Time Travel, Uchiha Sasuke Returns to Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, alternate time line, more tags to come, world ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:53:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28983672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_4_L/pseuds/R_4_L
Summary: The fourth Shinobi war has end and just when everyone thought they won, they were kicked in the teeth.  Zetsu came back and is picking the survivors off one by one.  A last ditch effort to save everyone is to send Sasuke and Naruto back into the past to stop all from happening.  Their arrival doesn’t go quite as planned and Sasuke is left alone.  Now it’s up to him to complete the mission and make sure everyone survives, included himself.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing a Sasuke-centric fic hope to do the emo proud. Irregular updates and no beta so be patient with me.

He didn’t want to be the one to tell Genma, but it was his job. Naruto brushed the tears from his face as he limped out of the tent and towards what they were calling the mess hall.

“Yamato, Genma inside?”

The wood user nodded, his daily ration in his hand. “I can-“

Naruto just shook his head and moved into the tent. There were only a handful of shinobi inside. “Genma?” The senbon user bolted from the table and rushed over. Shiranu was best medic they had left. Only then did Naruto realize that he hadn’t cleaned upon his return. Oh well, this really wasn’t the time for it anyway.

“Naruto? You’re hurt, let me-“ Genma reached out to help the blonde sit, but was stopped by the look in Naruto’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, Genma. I couldn’t- I tried.” Naruto just closed his eyes as his friend ran past him and out towards the other tent. Naruto entered in time to see Genma resting his forehead against Kakashi’s, his hands in the silver hair. He closed his eyes, tears running down his cheeks as he did his best to give the man a moment to say goodbye to his lover. At least he was able to bring Kakashi’s body back, they hadn’t always been able to do that. 

Looking up at the sky he wished he could see the clouds, the stars, the sun anything but the grey black they were surrounded with day and night. He watched the movement in camp. There weren’t that many people left. The years hadn’t been kind to them, between the constant attacks by Zetsu and inability to grow crops. They were dying. When they had defeated Madara, they had hope that the war was finally over and while it would take time to recover, they could recover. Then Zetsu returned. It was relentless in it’s focus to bring back, mother, Kaguya. Zetsu had attacked every living thing in it’s path to the point that it even killed off the wildlife and plants. The allied forces held out as best they could, but they were down to at best a couple hundred of survivors, shinobi and civilians alike scattered in pockets across the land. 

The cry of a baby brought a sad smile to his face. Shikadai. The child born from one of his friends. Another orphan. Shikamaru and Temari had found themselves unexpectedly pregnant. It wasn’t something they had planned, not while fighting on the battlefield. When Temari had been too far along to fight actively, they had switched jobs. Temari had become one of their main strategists, Shikamaru stayed behind and protected both them and their camp. Yoshino was right beside them. 

It had been an attack on the camp. Another ambush. Everyone had fought hard, the loses were immense and when the dust had cleared it was obvious that Shikamaru had died trying to protect his wife and their unborn child. An Iwa shinobi who found them, had cut the unborn babe from Temari’s body shortly after the fight, giving the babe the best chance of survival he could hope for. Yoshino was doing her best to raise her grandson. Shikadai’s cry brought into focus that all of Naruto’s friends were gone and had been for a while now, and he just lost his sensei. One of his last precious people.

“Naruto, Baki is calling for a meeting.” Yamato called his former student over, his voice shaky. He would have to make sure to give the wood user time to grieve, Kakashi’s lost was going to be felt in more way then just emotional.

Naruto walked into what they were calling the war tent, Yamato right behind him. The blonde looked around at who was gathered. Mei Terumi was in a chair still recovering from losing a leg a couple of weeks ago. Yoshino Nara was beside her with a bassinet at her feet. Ibiki stood beside Sasuke looking at the files on the table. Genma just stared into space eyes rimmed with red. “Baki,” the sand shinobi was at the head of the table.

“Naruto, it’s time.” Baki, looked at the other shinobi in the tent. Naruto shook his head.

Genma spoke up, his voice wavering, “It’s the only way we can survive. We made this plan. It’s the best our minds could come up with. I’m not saying that Nara-San and myself are idiots, but Shikamaru and Kakashi were geniuses, and when you put all of us together, well there’s no questioning the plan.” He took the time to wipe the tears from his eyes. “Zestu has us against the wall. Kakashi’s death proved what we all know but don’t want to admit. That we are losing this battle. We need you and Sasuke to go and fix this.”

“Genma, what if we make things worse.” Naruto met Sasuke’s eyes across the table. This had been something that the two of them had talked about ever since Shikamaru had come up with the idea of using the power of the Sage of the Six path to travel back in time.

Yoshino was the one to speak up this time, “I don’t think you can make it that much worse. Naruto, I know what we’re asking of you and Sasuke. I have just as much to risk as the rest of you, I’m risking Shikadai’s life in this as well and right now I know without a doubt that both Shikamaru and Temari would without a doubt put Shikadai’s life in your hands.”

“Come on dobe, we can do this.” Sasuke watched his best friend struggle with the idea. Naruto wore his heart on his sleeve. Every death, every loss hurt him and there were days when Sasuke was sure Naruto was going to bleed to death with those they had been forced to leave on the battle field. Watching the blonde struggle through the loss of all of those he knew, it had been hard not to step in and help. The loss of Iruka, Sakura and Gaara last year had been especially hard on him. He didn’t think the blonde was going to recover when Shikamaru died, now to lose Kakashi- Sasuke didn’t let himself think about his teacher too much, or he would be crying as well.

Naruto sighed. 

/THE UCHIHA IS RIGHT KIT. IT’S TIME. WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME, OUT OF CHAKRA.\ Kurama’s voice was rough with exhaustion.

“Alright, but give me a couple of hours,” when Sasuke would have argued Ibiki put a hand on his arm and nodded. 

Everyone in the room watched as Naruto left the tent.

“He won’t back out will he?” Mei wasn’t questioning his determination so much as she knew how much the blonde hated the idea of giving up.

Yamato moved over to pick up Shikadai and nuzzle the infant’s head, “no, he’s going to go and say his goodbyes. He knows that without him and Sasuke here, our death will come all the sooner.”

“The moron is likely trying to set up some sort of protection for the rest of you.” Sasuke was pissed that there was no way he could do the same.

His predictions came true when Naruto returned three hours later with a hand full of scrolls. He set them in piles on the table. His eyes were red rimmed and his voice was quiet and rough and deep. “Sasuke, I’d like to put a storage seal on you. Have you carry these with you when we go.”

“Why? What are they?” Sasuke was already peeling off his vest and shirt to bare his upper body. He didn’t know how big of an area Naruto needed but he would do it regardless.

“These are copies of all the information I have on fuinjutsu. The theory, how to’s and a number of different seals. It includes everything we know on Orochimaru’s cursed seal of heaven, the Hyuga’s caged bird seal, the seals used on each jinchuriki as well as everything I know about the Biju. I also have scrolls on everything Obito told us, you know Shikamaru’s plans to help us get into the village and all the various point we talked about trying to change depending on when in time we arrived and who we ran into.” He started inking the seals on Sasuke’s arm and then went and did the same thing to the other arm and finally one on his chest. “Alright. Let’s give it a try.” He handed Sasuke a kunai. “Channel some chakra into the seal, not a lot.” 

The group watched the way the seals glowed and Sasuke pushed the kunai against the seal having it disappear. The seal closed. Channeling chakra into it again, Sasuke was able to reach inside and pull the kunai out.

“Naruto?” Ibiki’s question brought nods all around. 

Naruto summoned a couple of clones and they started coping the storage seals on everyone’s arms. “They can’t hold much. Sasuke I would recommend your katana in one and the scrolls in another and the third for your other weapons. I’ve worked the matrixes so that the seals won’t open when you die, so there’s no worry about Zetsu killing you to get at whatever you have inside.”

“We’ll be together dobe.” Sasuke didn’t want to think about why Naruto was planning like this.

The smile was bitter sweet. “I know that’s the plan, but as Shikamaru always said, we need a back up for our back ups.” Looking over at Yoshino, Naruto gestured to the other set of scrolls. “This is the same type of information. Keep it safe. Copy it. Learn from it. Maybe someone here will be better at fuinjutsu then I am.” His smile was sad and small, “I changed the security seals around the camp. They’re keyed to Ibiki and Baki but will be powered by the land and there’s instruction on how to change it if you need to.”

The original plan was to use the cave at the back of the camp, but Kurama had vetoed that as he was worried the chakra blast from activating the seals would cause the cave to collapse. Instead they walked towards the clearing on the far side of the camp. No one came with them. Naruto was adamant, he didn’t want to risk injuring what comrades they had left. 

Naruto had Sasuke unroll the seal and set it in the middle of the clearing as he wrote out the rest of the formula on the ground around it, he needed his blood for that one. Sasuke stood back to watch his friend complete the complex matrix. No one would have ever believed that the dead last from their academy days would be this smart, this ingenious in something as complex and obscure as fuinjutsu, but no one could deny he had become a seal master over the years. The movements Naruto made were like a dance, elegant and graceful. Each one deliberate as the strokes on the ground communicated what it was they were trying to do. Sasuke was entranced, he watched the way Naruto’s jacket flared just slightly to show what was left of the muscled body beneath, although if he were being truthful, it wasn’t as bulky as it should be. Food supplies had been scarce for months now and everyone was existing on less then the ideal diet.

“Last chance.” Naruto looked up at his best friend. He had one line left, one more mark to make and then, if everything went according to plan, they would be traveling back to the their past to stop all of this before it could begin.

“Don’t even think about it, dobe. We’re doing this.” Sasuke knew that he didn’t have the energy to fight Naruto too hard on this. He prayed the blonde would follow through with the plan. Sasuke took a deliberate step onto the seal, keeping his gaze on his best friend.

“I’m not going to fight you.” Naruto let out a tired sigh. He wanted to, but he just didn’t have the energy and if he was honest with himself, the plan was a solid one. He stepped inside the seal work and looked at the raven haired shinobi. “Store your katana and weapons. I don’t want to get stabbed on the journey.” He closed the link and started to infuse the giant seal with chakra.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They make it to the past, but things don’t go quite to plan. Of course Naruto is involved so when do they ever go to plan.....

He knew they were there. His team had them surrounded. They generally weren’t sent out anymore, especially not on assassination assignments, but he had asked for this one specifically. The target was a former Leaf shinobi who sold information to Iwa and the Leaf wanted him gone. If there was one thing that Shikaku hated most, it was a traitor. They had finished their assignment and were on their way back when another team of Iwa nin found them. The three of them had agreed to take out what enemy they could, to be proactive. It would be less troublesome that way. He sent his shadows out to capture the enemy closest to him, trusting his team to watch his back. The confrontation was almost anticlimactic. The Iwa ninja might have out numbered them, but the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were stronger.

“Cho-“ Shikaku didn’t even need to finish speaking his friend’s name before Chouza was there catching Inoichi’s body. Shikaku using his shadows to toss Inoichi’s body out of the line of fire. The Yamanaka’s mind transfer technique took a toll. Inoichi had been practicing to be able to use it without leaving his body vulnerable. However, taking over five men at a time was pushing his own limits, especially after the fight they had just been in.

Chouza used his own family’s technique to expand his hands alone, knocking two enemy shinobi into the trees beside them, knowing that Shikaku would use his shadows to end them.

“Three left, they’re across the clearing.” Inoichi’s voice was weak but his own. The blonde gained his feet and patted Chouza on the back as he quickly came back to himself. He sealed the bodies once Shikaku had finished with them. 

They had some cover and were waiting for Shikaku to come up with yet another plan of attack.

Shikaku’s hand came up. Something was off. “The animals.” It was said more to himself than his team mates, but they heard him regardless.

It was then that the other two zeroed in on what was wrong. All sound had stopped. There were no birds, no bugs. They were good enough that most birds didn’t take flight when they approached. 

“Iwa?” Chouza had never seen anything like this before. 

Shikaku started to shake his head when it felt like all the air in the area had been sucked out. The pressure forced him to the ground. He pressed himself down to the ground praying that there was air there. Looking to the side he could see that Inoichi and Chouza were in the same position. Chouza having released his expansion jutsu in hopes of reducing the pressure on his chest.

There was large explosion as the air burst back into the clearing and two men appeared in the middle of the area. They were standing in the middle of a large seal, the symbols were intricate and unfamiliar not to mention the fact that they glowed a brilliant blue. The two men looked like exact opposites, one blonde and one dark. Both were dressed in standard well-worn shinobi blues.

Shikaku had no idea who they were. They wore no headband, but both looked like they had been fighting a war for years. He watched as the glowing symbols started to fade and seemingly took the blonde’s energy with it as he collapsed to his knees.

“Shikaku?” Chouza’s voice shook. Inoichi was staring at the dark haired man.

“Fuck,” a quick glance at the dark haired man’s face was all he needed to confirm that other man was an Uchiha, the sharingan was active and he had trapped Inoichi in a genjutsu. Shikaku would have said something to let the men know they meant them no harm except the remaining Iwa decided that it was prime time to attack. Shikaku barely had time to defend himself. The claws raked down his face. He knew right away that the claws had been poisoned, he didn’t have long to end this and remove the poison if he wanted to save the lives of his team and the strange men in the clearing. He thrust his kunai up hard into the Iwa’s chest. Pushing the body away he spun checking for the man’s companions only to see Chouza smash the two remaining shinobi together in his enlarged hands. 

“Sasuke let them go. Let me help.” The strange voice was weak but held undertones of a strong will.

Shikaku turned back to the pair. His breath caught as he finally got a good look at the blonde of the pair. He could Minato’s brother. “Who are you?” The pair had yet to take a step outside of the circle they had been in. He wondered if they could, if the seal held them in.

“Hai, Shikaku-San I don’t know if you’re going to believe us.” The blonde spoke. He coughed. Looking at his partner, he hit the Uchiha’s shoulder. “Teme! Let him go. Sasuke.”

The Uchiha blinked, releasing Inoichi. “I didn’t torture him or anything.”

“Shikaku, come here please.” 

Shikaku had no idea why he did what the blonde asked without question, but he did. Even as he moved as close to the edge of the circle as he could, he couldn’t bring himself to step inside. He felt the tingle of power on his skin just from being close, he didn’t want to cross that line. He tried to figure out how the pair knew his name, seemed to know them. 

The blonde reached out a hand and placed it centimetres from Shikaku’s face, still within the circle. “I don’t have much energy left, but..”

“Dobe, don’t do that.” 

“Shut up teme. If I don’t do it now, he’ll never make it back to the village.” The blonde looked so shaky but he didn’t stop healing Shikaku’s face. “Think Sasuke. This was one of Shika’s contingencies, and if the Ino-Shika-Cho trio is here then that’s proof that the seal worked.”

“What?” Chouza stood behind his team mate. Shika? Who were they talking about? 

“Can you give us your names?” Inoichi watched the way the blonde moved his hand as if to better cradle Shikaku’s face all without touching it. The genjutsu hadn’t been pleasant but it hadn’t harmed him either, and what it had shown him was confusing. The glow of chakra was unfamiliar, it wasn’t the green of healing used by a medic, but gold. “You seem to know us.”

“Sasuke, please. You’ll need their help.” The blonde ignored the question, he sounded so tired.

“You’re friend is weakening.” Inoichi brought the Uchiha’s attention back to his companion.

Sasuke took a really good look at Naruto. His hand near the Nara’s face, his chakra almost gone. “What the hell, dobe.” 

Naruto’s hand dropped listlessly to his side, his focus solely on Shikaku. “I’m sorry I couldn’t heal you further. You’ll have scars.” As soon as he stopped healing the Nara, he collapsed to the ground.

The dark haired man knelt as well. “Fuck, Naruto! You dumbass, you always over do it.” Sasuke reached to pull his friend close to his chest. It scared him how shaky and thin Naruto was. Sure food had been scarce and they had all learned to live on less and less food but to have loss so much weight and muscle mass. Fuck, the Biju inside of him. Why hadn’t it occurred to any of them? The moron had to be slowly starving to death, but he never said a word. Sasuke held Naruto close. “Rest moron, rest and we can finish this.” He whispered the words into the blonde’s hair. He closed his eyes trying to hold his emotions at bay. He couldn’t let the other know how precarious their situation really was.

It hurt Chouza to watch them together, it reminded him of how he was with Inoichi and Shikaku. That type of closeness only came with time and trust and living through the hell of war. If these two weren’t on the same genin team or childhood friends, he’d stop eating BBQ.

Naruto looked at the seal and then the men around them. “Inoichi there isn’t much time. Search my memories quickly, the three of you are going to need to help Sasuke make it into the village and stop what’s to come.”

“And you know we’re in time because how?” Sasuke tried to ignore Naruto’s previous command to the Yamanaka clan head.

“The scars teme. They were old and faded when we were childr-“ Naruto went stiff in Sasuke’s arms.

The Uchiha glared at the blonde outside the circle. “What did you do?”

Shikaku touched his face gently and blinked. He wiped away the residual blood. He didn’t feel tired the way he usually felt after being treated by a medic, he hadn’t felt the poison be removed, but he could tell that it had been. “Inoichi is searching the blonde’s mind like he asked, he won’t hurt him. It’s obvious that you are an Uchiha, but who’s your friend?” He had overheard the blonde’s name but he wanted more. He wanted proof and to give his team mate the time needed to get it. Shikaku could tell when Inoichi came back to himself. He looked over at the mind walker to see his team mate pale and shaking his head. He hadn’t been in there long maybe five or seven minutes.

Naruto took a deep shuddering breath. “Sasuke. You need to finish the mission.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Promise me. Promise me that you will finish the mission. You’ll stick around and protect us, protect your family.”

“Dobe, you’ll be there to help me.”

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes. “Promise me.”

“I promise dobe. Now take down the seal and let’s head back to the village.”

Naruto looked at Shikaku and the Nara knew this was going to end badly. He shoved weakly at his sleeves baring his forearms. A small burst of chakra raced down the blonde’s arms opening seals that must have been inked into his skin. Scrolls, weapons and bags popped out and onto the ground. He met and held Shikaku’s gaze. “Keep them safe, please.” The blonde gave a small smile and his hands flew through the signs. The symbols on the seal around the pair started to glow again as they slowly unraveled. The more symbols disappeared, the weaker the blonde looked.

“Chouza!” Shikaku yelled as he jumped towards the blonde, his hands already glowing green as he reached for the blonde.

“What the FUCK, NARUTO!!” Sasuke pulled the blonde closer to his chest.

“It’s okay Sasuke. I used too much chakra getting us here. They’re all gone.” The Konoha trio had no idea what they were talking about, but the pain was evident on the blonde’s face as tears flowed freely down his face. Shikaku was doing his best to memorize everything that was being said, every nuisance as he and Chouza were trying to heal the blonde. “You’ll be okay. You’re strong.” 

Shikaku was on the verge of panicking. The blonde’s chakra was disappearing rapidly, he’d never seen anything like it before. No sooner had the chakra faded then the blonde’s body started to crumble to dust.

“No, NO!” He screamed, his eye flashed red, “You don’t get to leave me.” Sasuke tried to hold on to the blonde as his body kept disintegrating. “how am I-“ Sasuke couldn’t finish. His friend disappeared completely. There was nothing left, no body, no ash. It was like he had been absorbed back into the universe. The Uchiha collapsed completely onto the ground, his head in his hands, kneeling on the grass. 

Shikaku left a healing hand resting on the Uchiha turning back to Inoichi. “Report.”

Chouza could see Inoichi struggling to sort out his thoughts so he stepped up. “The area is secure. I’ve sealed the enemy in my last interrogation scroll and they’re ready to take back to the village.”

Shikaku nodded and focused on Inoichi. “Inoichi?”

“I- Fuck. Damn it Shikaku, I’m not sure what the hell these two have gone through, not all of it, what it is that I just learned.” Inoichi was still trying to wrap his mind around the concept that these two were from the future, that they were friends of his daughter, Ino who is barely three years old. That the blonde who just disappeared was Minato’s son, the boy currently living in the orphanage because Sarutobi refused to let anyone raise him. That the world had ended and everyone he knew was dead or dying.

Shikaku looked around at the scrolls and items on the ground, the damage; proof of a fight in the area. He was glad that they had finished their original mission and were on their way back when they were ambushed and ran into these two. “We better get a move on. Uchiha? Can you tell if there’s anything left of the seal? Is it safe? We’ll take you with us.” He couldn’t see the seal that had surrounded the pair, couldn’t feel it either but then he wasn’t a seal master. He didn’t want to leave anything behind if he could help it.

Sasuke stood on shaking legs, he was holding on to the Uchiha mask of indifference but the pain in his eyes let everyone know just how affected he was. 

“Chouza grab the Uchiha, Inoichi get the interrogation scrolls and I’ll clean up.” Shikaku stood by the Uchiha waiting until his team mate had the man before destroying the very ground the seal appeared on. Once he was finished, the Nara moved to follow Chouza towards the camp they had picked out, bringing up the rear and making sure that they weren’t being followed

The group was silent as they moved through the trees. Shikaku was trying to figure out what it was that he had learned. “We’ll camp at the hilltop cave.”

“We’re on time for the mission.” Chouza shifted the man on his back. The Uchiha was unconscious, suffering from chakra exhaustion and whatever else brought them here.

“I know Chouza, but I’m not taking him into the village without some explanation.” Shikaku needed a moment to really think things through and they had at least a four day window before the Hokage would become concerned. “Inoichi?”

“I’m good.” Inoichi knew what his best friend was asking, but he wasn’t going to say anything until they stopped at the camp. They were sure to arrive at the cave in a couple of hours and were still a good day away from Konoha.


	3. Chapter 3

Shikaku checked the cave and then moved aside to give Chouza room to lay the Uchiha down. He gathered wood for a fire, set a snare in hopes of catching something for that night’s meal and refilled their canteens at the small stream near by. When he was back at the cave, the Nara used the time setting up the camp to organize his thoughts. Chouza was outside making his rounds, checking that that he didn’t miss anything while stuck in his head and likely checking on the snare. It was the way they always worked.

Inoichi set up seals at the cave opening, sealing them in as soon as their third came back. “Shikaku do you want to start?” He knew how his friend worked.

Shikaku sat, his back against the cave wall. Inoichi was to his right and Chouza across the fire from him. To his left lay the Uchiha facing the fire, eyes closed. Chouza was cooking their meal. It was a calculated risk, Shikaku had seen how thin both men were. If the Uchiha was trying to fake unconsciousness, it was possible to fake him out using his stomach to do so. Nothing he was going to say would surprise the stranger.

“The dojutsu is unmistakable. The question is who is this Uchiha in relation to Fugaku? Who was his companion? If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was Minato’s brother or Minato reborn.”  
He noticed the way Inoichi flinched, but continued on. “The other thing to contemplate is the seals that surrounded the two. I have never seen seals that complex or that large.”

“And you won’t, the dobe created it, rediscovered parts of it, made it up, or however you want it say it. Took him forever too.” The man lying down slowly sat up. “May I have some water, please.” 

Chouza handed the dark haired man his canteen and bowl of food.

Sasuke looked at the food and handed it back right away. “Maybe dish me out half of that. Food has been scarce and we’ve been on strict rations for so long- “ Sasuke didn’t want to give too much away, but he knew that he couldn’t do this alone. Hell, he hadn’t planned to do it alone to begin with but without Naruto, he really didn’t have much of a choice.

Chouza handed back the altered meal size and watched as the young man slowly started to eat. If he was that starved he would do his best to feed the man small frequent meals. Recipes for strength building foods already flipping through his head.

“What do you want to know?” He didn’t want to be here. He just wanted to curl and cry. In all of their scenarios one of them disappearing or not making it past the original jump wasn’t thought of, although Naruto must have had some inkling. It would explain why he had made sure that not only Sasuke but also everyone they left behind had copies of the scrolls. “Bastard.” He closed his eyes and focused on calming down, the sharingan was draining what was left of his chakra. He just hoped to hell that when he lost it out in the field the trio didn’t see the Rinnegan. That was the last thing he needed right now.

Shikaku sighed and turned slightly to face him. “Your name?”

“Sasuke Uchiha.”

“Date of birth?”

“July 23.”

“Son of a ...” Shikaku straightened. Sure he wasn’t exactly best friends with Fugaku, but with all of the clan heads having children in the same year, he knew their birthdates as well as their names. Fugaku and Kushina had been on the same genin team, Mikoto and Kushina were close friends and they had petitioned to look after Naruto when Minato and Kushina died, just like he and Yoshino did. His eye sought out Inoichi’s who just nodded. “Your parents?” He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know, but he had to ask.

“Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, but I think you knew that, or at least guessed it.” Sasuke sighed.

“Your friend?” 

Sasuke sighed as the tears threatened to come again. This time he couldn’t stop them from falling or the lump in his throat, “Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. He was the last known jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, born October 10 and my best friend.”

“Fuck. How?” Shikaku wanted answers from Sasuke before he verified everything with Inoichi.

Sasuke shifted so he was leaning against the cave wall. He was so tired. He hated talking, hated having to explain himself, but Naruto was right. He was going to need their help and to get that he was going to have to start at the beginning. “I don’t know how much Inoichi was able to get from Naruto before the idiot died on us and I don’t know much to tell you without totally fucking this up; but he was right. I’m going to need your help. I can’t deal with this on my own, hell our whole plan was for us to do this together. He’s the one with golden tongue, I was coming to protect his back because he’s too trusting, too naive. I didn’t expect him to die on me.” He sipped on his water having eaten only a couple bites of the food before putting it aside. “Basically in about fifteen years the world goes to hell. Literally. It’s a war that lasts for just under a year. We manage to unite all the Hidden Villages. At the end of the first year just when it looks like we have a hope in winning our enemy decided to stop playing with us. We switched from fighting a war to fighting to survive, it doesn’t do a lot of good. They likes to play with their prey so we’ve spent over four years in a vicious game of cat and mouse. Before we jumped there weren’t many people left. We’re scattered through the lands. Hiding in small pockets just trying to survive. Being part of a clan or village means nothing now. Last year we had a couple of our brightest come up with a plan based on seals that Naruto could use in conjunction with my dojutsu. The plan was for the two of us to come back here and stop things before they happened.”

“Let me get this straight.” Chouza was trying to wrap his head around the theories that his team mates seemed to already be accepting. “You’re suggesting that you’re the same Sasuke Uchiha that we just left in village? The Sasuke that just turned three? You’re from the future to stop some massive war that wipes us all from the planet?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Sasuke leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He was getting tired, between the energy used to get them here and the food he was so tired. He wasn’t going to touch the emotional toll, he needed to lock that down fast. “The meal was very good. Thank you Chouza.”

Shikaku had to give Sasuke credit. He had given them enough detail to intrigue them as to why they were there. He couldn’t deny that they appeared out of nowhere surrounded by sophisticated seals. He still had more questions, but if he was telling the truth, then he had to be careful in what he was asking. Too much information was just as dangerous as too little. “Alright, if we take your introduction as fact, and I will be questioning you further later, do you know events you want to change first?”

Sasuke thought about that. They had list of things from the last three generations, including his own, of major events that the pair of them were to change or influence depending on when in time they landed. “I take it from Chouza’s statement that all the clan heads have children about the same age at the moment? That Minato and Kushina have died?”

Shikaku nodded. “The Sasuke Uchiha in the village just turned three.”

“Shit,” Sasuke sighed he had hoped that they could have saved Naruto’s parents. “What can you tell me about Hizashi Hyuga?” 

Shikaku eyed the young man. “He’s part of the Hyuga clan, a member of the branch family and has a son Neji.”

“There may be time, the first event has to do with the Hyuga clan.” Sasuke’s eyes were already closed.

“Look you’re exhausted both physically and emotionally, why don’t you sleep, we’ll take watch and in the morning we can come up with a plan to get you into the village safely, who else we’ll need to tell and what the fuck we can actually do.” Shikaku was almost certain that Sasuke was a real Uchiha, but time travel? That was a bit of a stretch. The thing was he just couldn’t wrap his mind around what the Naruto guy had done. Those seals were the real thing. He was scared to think what information Inoichi held, but he could see the toll staying awake was taking on the Uchiha.


	4. Chapter 4

The three men left the cave, Inoichi setting up a secondary set of privacy seals to keep what they were going to be talking about separate from both the outside and the Uchiha inside while still being able to keep watch on both. 

“Shikaku, what I read in the blonde’s mind was frightening, truly frightening. I could feel traces of the Kyuubi, not only that but other forms of chakra as well. I don’t understand how the kid could hold that much foreign chakra in his system without going mad but he did. There were traces of Minato’s seal work there, like an echo. The things he showed me. It is horrific. The devastation, pain and heartbreak.” Chouza’s hand on his back reminded the blonde mind walker to breathe and try to get his thoughts in order. “He showed me the inside of the flower shop. He had memories of feeding the deer, of talking with the Hokage and us. Of being with Tsunade and Jiraya. Things that couldn’t be made up because no one would have that type of information unless they lived it or had walked our minds and even then some of the stuff wouldn’t be there. Then he showed me the war, the deaths, the destruction, the plan that they made. If we can help them, help him stop this we need to.”

“Who came up with the plan Inoichi? Who are they relying on as their strategist?” The Uchiha had said that a couple of their brightest minds came up with the plan, if he knew who they were it would explain so much. Even if he didn’t know them personally, he was familiar with most of the strategist in the village and the ones they went against if hidden villages were working together like he said. It would explain how time travel became a reality.

Inoichi wasn’t sure if he should say, but in the end he couldn’t lie. He also knew the one name guaranteed to get both Chouza and Shikaku on board, “Shikamaru.” He took a shuddering breath he didn’t want to hurt his friends but there was no other way to get his friends to understand just how important this mission was to their survival, “Shikamaru and a couple of others came up with the plan right before they died.” Naruto had carefully guided the Yamanaka through his mind. He was rushed through events so fast to leave only the barest of impressions, blurring the details. It was as if Naruto didn’t want him to focus on certain things or people. Inoichi was sure the blonde wanted to show him enough to ensure that they would trust that Sasuke Uchiha was who he said he was and to help him finish his mission and not get bogged down with the details of who had died and how.

Shikaku froze. He hadn’t really thought it through when Sasuke had said there weren’t many people left. 

“I. In their time, we’ve been gone for a while, although I guess Chouza was the last of us to die. Out of all the clan children, ours included, well they’re all gone. Everyone but those two, or I guess Sasuke now. Their camp had maybe fifty people left, civilians and shinobi from all of the nations. The impression I got was that they believed there were may be a couple hundred humans left alive on the planet. In total. They were hiding in caves, clans meant nothing anymore, survival was what mattered.”

“Wait.” Chouza looked back to the cave opening, “so he wasn’t kidding when he said the world went to hell.” A couple hundred people left in the world? Chouza couldn’t wrap his mind around it. The Akimichi clan had about a hundred members, as did the Nara and Yamanaka clans; that the total of those three clans could be the grand total of world boggled the mind.

“No, he wasn’t. They were starving to death and being picked off one by one by an enemy that was more skilled at ambush and infiltration then they were. They were dying and they knew it.” Inoichi had fought in what they were calling the third shinobi war and he remembered the stories from his father of what the second shinobi war had been like. They had both been Hidden village against Hidden village; nothing was as bad as what he had seen in the blonde’s mind, especially as it seemed like all five nations had been working together. He didn’t want to see what could cause so much strife and if he could help prevent it then by the gods he would.

“Damn it. We’ll need to get him into the village without tipping off Fugaku and find out what he’s willing to share. I almost don’t want to know too much. Scared we’ll fuck it up even more.” Shikaku sighed, “I can only hope Sasuke has a plan of sort as to where to begin.” He moved to head back inside the cave when Chouza stopped him.

“Let me see your face.” Chouza examined the claw marks.

“I swear they were poisoned when I was hit. I could feel the sting. When Naruto put his hand near my face I could feel the wound healing. It didn’t feel like a medic doing the work if you know what I mean.” He let Chouza move his head from side to side and use his chakra to examine the wound. 

“Explain?” Inoichi was curious how it felt different.

“You know how healing chakra from a medic often leaves you feeling tired as well right, because their chakra is sort of working against yours to force a healing. Not to mention they have to actually touch you. When Naruto put his hand up near my head to pull out the poison, I didn’t feel a thing. I mean, I could feel my chakra responding, but it didn’t fight him and I didn’t feel any pull on the wound, the poison leaving or feel tired.” 

“Well I can’t detect any poison left behind and these already look like they’re about three weeks old.” Chouza stepped back and away from his team mate. “I don’t know if you guys noticed, but Naruto’s chakra was glowing gold.”

Neither man said a word as they walked back into the cave. 

“You guys sleep, I’ll take watch.” Shikaku trailed behind, his mind already working the puzzle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry short chapter. I’m hoping this doesn’t become too much of background, but like most stories it’s taking on it’s own life and I have almost no say.....already a problem child.


	5. Chapter 5

Shikaku made himself comfortable as he watched his team mates bunk down for the night. He pulled out a small notebook and took a second to calm his mind. Opening to a blank page he started to copy down the seal symbols that had surrounded the pair when they arrived and marked which ones faded first. He wrote out what he saw, heard. He had an eidetic memory and that certainly helped but he always liked tho have the facts written down then he could turn them around and rearrange them to work them into different patterns and compare them to what others saw. It took him an hour to realize that the Uchiha was awake and watching him, the man hadn’t moved or made a sound. “Do you have a plan?”

Sasuke slowly rolled over and sat up. He laughed, “honestly, we had about fifteen plans all depending on where we popped up and when we made it back and who we happened to meet up with. Your team wasn’t one of them but then dealing with Naruto also meant dealing with the unexpected.”

“You mentioned the Hyuga.”

“Yeah I’ll have to check my notes, but soon there’s an event that will happen. If I can stop it I would like to.”

Shikaku watched the other man from across the banked fire. “The scrolls your friend tossed on the ground?”

“Naruto,” Sasuke stopped himself, he wouldn’t let himself grieve not yet but he wanted him to be acknowledged. “he’d want someone else to study the scrolls to use the knowledge inside, to help me succeed. The Yamanaka told you what he learned from Naruto’s mind?” He waited for Shikaku to nod. “Do you believe him?”

“I do. Not just because I’ve never known anyone to be able to fool the Yamanaka mind walk jutsu, but because of other things. The way you look, your eyes, mannerisms, the little tells. All the small things that let me know you both had been fighting a long hard battle and were losing, that this was your last hope. The seals were reminiscent of ones I have only read about in scrolls from Uzushiogakure. They were the only ones I know who could create seals like that no one here can reproduce them.” Shikaku took a second to think about the loss of one of the Leaf’s strongest allies. “You are an Uchiha and definitely a high ranking shinobi, but there are only a few in the corps and all are known to me. Your friend, Naruto, is certainly a mix of Minato and Kushina and his chakra proved that.”

“Huh, I guess he was right. Shika-, Naruto considered Shika one of his best friends, someone who stayed with him through all of his ups and downs. He’s the one who came up with the majority of our plans. In a way I’m glad,” Sasuke didn’t finish. He didn’t want to upset that man talking about how his son was dead, and he didn’t want to influence him too much.

Shikaku changed the topic, at least a little. “Are you going to want to see your family? Talk to the Hokage about this?”

Sasuke sighed and covered his eyes with his arm. His parents were still alive, and the clan was whole but the coup was still a real possibility. The Hokage was there but with Danzo a threat he’d need to do some undercover work. “Damn it.” He shook his head. “Not yet, at least I don’t think so.”

“Alright, let’s go back to the scrolls Naruto tossed out?” Shikaku was trying to piece together a plan.

“What’s your roll in the village at the moment? Inoichi’s? And Chouza’s?” Sasuke couldn’t remember what everyone’s parents were doing when he was a child. He’d been too self absorbed. Hell at this age he was just too damn young. Naruto had known Shikaku and the Nara clan well enough and Kakashi, Ibiki, and Yoshino had filled in a lot of blanks about the rest of the village.

“All of us are jonin although both Inoichi and I will be focusing on other career aspects when we get back. Inoichi is moving over to T&I and heading up interrogation full time while I take over as Jonin Commander.” Shikaku watched as Sasuke nodded.

“Chouza a jonin instructor?”

“No.”

“Hnn.”

Shikaku took that as an announcement towards the future which would have surprised him if it didn’t fit his friend so well. Chouza would be a perfect fit to teach chunin and jonin how to be sensei’s. He’d already had a genin team.

“The scrolls, can I trust you to hold on to them and not read them yet. To keep them safe and hidden for the time being.”

“For how long Sasuke?”

“I need time to recover, time to get my strength back and figure out exactly when and where I am and what I need to affect.” 

“Sleep. Let me think on it some more and I’ll have a plan for morning.” Shikaku watched as the Uchiha fell directly to sleep. Combat naps. The dark haired man would sleep for ten maybe fifteen minutes before waking silently and checking his surrounding before dropping off again. That more than anything help cement the pair’s story. No one slept like that except war vets. 

Dawn crept slowly into the cave. Shikaku knew that Inoichi and Chouza would have something to say about him not waking them for watch shifts last night but he needed the time to think. Inoichi could use the time to sleep and recover from what he had seen in Naruto’s mind. He knew the images had disturbed his friend more than he let on. Chouza had done a lot of heavy hitting yesterday in the melee and would use the time to regain his chakra, beside Shikaku was going to need him to carry Sasuke. The Uchiha was too weak to travel on his own.

He had the beginnings of a plan.

When everyone was awake he watched the way Sasuke drank a couple of mouthfuls of water and ate a handful of berries. That was going to need to be addressed along with his chakra depletion.

“Alright this is what I came up with. Sasuke when we’re closer to the village we’re going to put you in stasis and store you in one of the interrogation scrolls. You’ll be good for the couple of hours it’ll take us to get you into the village without question and somewhere safe. Once inside we’ll report our mission, minus everything about Naruto and Sasuke. The three of us should be given the standard forty-eight hours of leave to recover. Chouza, there’s the old summer cabin that borders Nara’s land. We can put Sasuke there to recover. It’s up to you if you want to involve Rei. I will only be telling Yoshino that we have a high profile guest who needs to remain in hiding at the cabin. She’s too well trained to not notice something and I’d rather her not get too curious. With her on my side, I can keep the others out.” Shikaku laid out his plan and waited to see if his team mates could spot a flaw.

“That works. It would also give me a reason to get Rei’s help in cooking meals. She’s better at this then I am.” Chouza was glad he didn’t have to lie to his wife. She wasn’t a shinobi but she was a smart and caring woman and had spent years as a village midwife.

“If we say that the person inside is helping on a sensitive issue for T&I then that would make sure no one says anything for village protection.” Inoichi knew that using that line would have both the Akimichi and Nara clans ready to help out their clan heads. “Having Yoshino aware would be helpful, she has the training to make sure we don’t miss anything.”

Sasuke smirked, “just make sure they know that I’m not a prisoner.” 

Shikaku nodded. “When we get back into the village I’ll transfer those scrolls into a smaller storage scroll, one with a blood key and keep it on my person at all times.”

Sasuke nodded. “When do you want me to play dead?” 

“You have a couple of hours yet. However I will have Chouza carry you now.” 

Thirty kilometres outside of the village Shikaku rolled out the last interrogation scroll they had. Sasuke sighed as moved towards it. He was putting his life in these men’s hands and was praying that he wasn’t making a mistake. He wasn’t Naruto. He didn’t trust as openly. He was going with Naruto’s gut and trusting that the Ino-Shika-Cho trio here and now was as trustworthy as Naruto believed they were. If not, well then he’d be joining his best friend sooner then he thought and be making his apologizes for failing his mission for quite a while.


	6. Chapter 6

“I didn’t think he do it.” Chouza watched the way Shikaku rolled the scroll up carefully and put it to the side. The storage scroll with items he had been given was placed beside it. All the other scrolls that contained the Iwa shinobi they were bringing back for interrogation were placed under a different tree. 

“Chouza, I know that this is going to be a strain on you, but can you carry the enemy back to the village.” Shikaku shuffled back towards the Uchiha. “I don’t want to mix these up by mistake. Inoichi and I can split your pack.”

“You’re taking this seriously,” Inoichi could see just how careful Shikaku was being here.

Shikaku nodded. “He’s putting his life in our hands. I think he half expects us to betray him. I don’t want to do that. Ino- if something happens when we get back and they demand that I go to the hospital or something, you get this scroll and take to the cottage. Take it somewhere he can be safe. Got it.”

“I swear I will.” Inoichi wouldn’t let his team mate down. Later when they were back in the village and safe from prying eyes, he’d corner the Nara and find out what Sasuke had told him during the night.

The last leg of the trip home was slower then Shikaku wanted it to be, but they were careful not to leave a trail, not expending too much energy. When the gates came into sight he let out a small sigh, but didn’t relax until he was walking up the stairs to hand in his report. Chouza was on his way to T&I to hand the foreign nin.

“Shikaku, you’re injured.” Sarutobi could only gape at the wound on his new Jonin Commander’s face.

“Yes sir. Our mission was successful. Chouza is taking the captives to T&I as we speak. The injury is why we were late coming home.” Shikaku stood at attention, Inoichi beside him.

“Do you need to see a doctor?”

“I’ll go when I’m finished here sir. Aside from this, there were no injuries, just slight exhaustion.” Shikaku continued giving the rest of report, everything he said was collaborated with his written report already sitting on the Hokage’s desk.

“Alright, you’re both dismissed. I don’t want to see you until Monday.” Hokage waved them off. Seeing as how it was Thursday, that gave them an extra day to recover. 

Inoichi and Shikaku walked slowly back through the village. “I’m going to head home.” Inoichi touched his friend’s shoulder {If I don’t go home to see Ino and Kyoko it will seem strange. I’ll try to come by tonight or tomorrow, don’t wait for me.} 

Shikaku nodded and let his friend slip out of his mind seamlessly. Walking through the Nara clan gates he felt the comfort of the shadows around him. Once at his front door he prayed his wife would understand.

“Yoshino, I’m back.” 

His wife of five years came out of the study, her eyes zeroed in on his face before cataloging every other aspect of his being. “What’s going on?”

He smiled and when she was close enough, opened his arms to pull her into his chest. “I’m fine. We’re all fine.”

“Shikaku, you haven’t lied to me since you had to tell me we were denied the right to adopt Naruto. What’s going on?”

“I can’t tell you everything, not yet.” He kissed her, “what I can tell you is that I have someone we need to put into hiding at the Akimichi summer cottage. I need to keep them secret and safe.”

“Who knows?” Yoshino had not only been a top shinobi but had been ANBU at one point in her career before a traitor and injury had forced her into retirement.

“Inoichi and Chouza know who, you know that they’re there here. Rei might, I’m not sure what Chouza will say just yet.”

“Kyoko?” Yoshino liked Inoichi’s wife. She couldn’t deny the woman loved Inoichi fully and did what she could to support him, but Kyoko wasn’t a shinobi. She ran the family flower store well and gathered gossip naturally, but she talked way too much.

Shikaku shook his head. 

“Well if Chouza isn’t comfortable having your guest over there, we could always use Shoto’s cottage.” Shoto Nara had lived right on the edge of the Nara woods and the village, he had been killed during the nine-tails attack. Yoshino had gone and helped to clean it out, but no one had been willing to live out there yet.

“Too far away from us at the moment.” Shikaku had thought about it, but Shoto’s home was a good half a kilometre away from his own while Chouza’s summer cottage was less then a couple of hundred meters through the woods and between both his home and Chouza’s. He was still too worried about Sasuke’s health to be too far away.

Yoshino let Shikaku pull away as Shikamaru toddled into the room. She watched him pick up their son, the look on his face was odd. He had always been a hands on father, but this was something different, there was a look of saddened pride on his face.

“Let’s teach you shoji.” He headed towards the study, Yoshino didn’t mention the fact that teaching their three year old shoji was near impossible. Her husband had something riding him and the best she could do was support him.


End file.
